Computer program product and system for merging topically related e-mail in a collaborative work environment
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorGregory Louis Truty
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mechanism is presented for merging e-mail messages into a collated file. An e-mail message and its associated responses may be accessed and collated based on a selected pattern for responses. The set of e-mails may be collated into a single document with the responses associated with the particular message to which the response is directed. Using pattern matching operations in an iterative fashion, a response may be associated with the message that elicited the response whether the original message or a previous response. The form of association may be user selectable.
Claims7
1-11. (canceled)
A computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the program product for collating e-mail comprising programming instructions for:
- (a) differencing at least one first e-mail message and a second e-mail message wherein said at least one first e-mail message is prior to said second e-mail message, said differencing generating a set of unmatched text and a set of matched text;
- (b) matching said set of matched text against a collated message file, said matching step identifying a position in said collated message file at an end of a portion of said collated message file corresponding to said set of matched text;
- and
- (c) inserting said set of unmatched text in said collated message file at said position;
- wherein said at least one first e-mail message and said second e-mail message comprise a set of topically-related e-mail selected in response to a preselected pattern in a header portion of each e-mail of said set of topically-related e-mail;
- (d) searching each e-mail message of said set of topically-related e-mail for at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers;
- (e) if said at least one at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers matches a portion of said message of said set of topically-related messages:
- (i) selecting a portion of said message not having said prepended identifier;
- (ii) inserting said portion from (i) into said collated message file at a position following a portion matching a set of text having said at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers;
- and
- (iii) bypassing (a)-(c).
15-18. (canceled)
A data processing system for collating e-mail comprising:
- (a) circuitry operable for differencing at least one first e-mail message and a second e-mail message wherein said at least one first e-mail message is prior to said second e-mail message, said differencing generating a set of unmatched text and a set of matched text;
- (b) circuitry operable for matching said set of matched text against a collated message file, said matching step identifying a position in said collated message file at an end of a portion of said collated message file corresponding to said set of matched text;
- and
- (c) circuitry operable for inserting said set of unmatched text in said collated message file at said position:
- wherein said at least one first e-mail message and said second e-mail message comprise a set of topically-related e-mail selected in response to a preselected pattern in a header portion of each e-mail of said set of topically-related e-mail;
- (d) circuitry operable for searching each e-mail message of said set of topically-related e-mail for at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers;
- (e) circuitry operable for, if said at least one at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers matches a portion of said message of said set of topically-related messages:
- (i) selecting a portion of said message not having said prepended identifier;
- (ii) inserting said portion from (i) into said collated message file at a position following a portion matching a set of text having said at least one member of a preselected set of prepended identifiers;
- and
- (iii) bypassing (a)-(c).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.